Ibrahim Shihab and Abdullah Al-Thibyani Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — As the July 31 deadline for all Umrah pilgrims to leave the Kingdom nears, King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) is overcrowded with hundreds of pilgrims sitting on the floor of the waiting halls and near the packaging desks seeking flights to return home.
Abdulhameed Aba Al-Uri, KAIA director, said: “This Ramadan, we had 33,000 flights carrying over 5 million pilgrims. The arrangement for their return back home were done in cooperation with the Ministry of Haj.
All the pilgrims had to do is just go through the authentication office to ensure that all of their official papers are in order,” said Aba Al-Uri. With thousands of pilgrims leaving Makkah, the Grand Mosque seemed very spacious on Friday.
Sheikh Abdurahman Al-Sudais, chief of the Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, said the Friday noon prayer was "very smooth and pleasant.”
He added Ramadan this year had the largest number of pilgrims thus far.
“The ministry has handled it incredibly well with great organization and cooperation. Despite the overcrowding, the ministry managed to give the pilgrims an air of serenity and spirituality of Ramadan,” said Al-Sudais.
He added the ministry's efforts in expanding the Grand Mosque by using the latest technologies to serve the pilgrims paid off.
Grand Mosque Security Director Maj. Gen. Mohammad Al-Ahmadi said the security directorate had a 100 percent success rate in its security plans for Ramadan.
“We had an intensive period during Ramadan but now we are back to our usual routine. About 90 percent of the pilgrims have left the Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah.
“Traffic is also smoother and things are gradually going back to normal,” said Al-Ahmadi.
Ministry of Haj spokesman Hatim Qadi said a total of 5.9 million Umrah visas were issued for the month of Ramadan.
“A total of 5.7 million pilgrims actually arrived in the Kingdom. The number of pilgrims still left in Makkah and Madinah is 331,026.
The deadline for the Umrah pilgrims to leave the country is July 31," he said.
